Installing and Licensing the SOLIDWORKS Document Manager API

The SOLIDWORKS Document Manager API allows you to write applications that emulate file management tools to perform such tasks as renaming, replacing, and copying SOLIDWORKS documents.  It is an independent software component that provides read-write functionality for SOLIDWORKS documents.

This SOLIDWORKS Document Manager API is COM-compliant and supports automation-compliant data types only. It allows you to develop your application without reading or writing binary data directly to the header portion of SOLIDWORKS files. You do not need to have the SOLIDWORKS software installed on your system to use this API.

Software Requirements

The SOLIDWORKS Document Manager API requires:

• Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, which installs the runtime components of Visual C++ libraries. These runtime components are required to successfully register the SOLIDWORKS Document Manager 2018 DLL, which was developed using Visual Studio 2015.

• Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 4.0 or later; MSXML 6.0 is the first version of MSXML that supports 64-bit processors. MSXML is only needed if you want to use ISwDMComponent or ISwDMComponent2. Download MSXML from www.microsoft.com.

NOTE: A full SOLIDWORKS installation includes MSXML and the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015. Clients installing SOLIDWORKS Document Manager on systems without a full SOLIDWORKS installation must also install MSXML and the Visual C++ Redistributable or ensure that they have been previously installed.

Installation

The SOLIDWORKS Document Manager API is a COM object contained in SwDocumentMgr.dll. The SOLIDWORKS Document Manager DimXpert API is contained in dimxpert.dll. The zlib.dll DLL was automatically installed in the following folder if you installed the SOLIDWORKS software:

<disk>:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared

SwDocumentMgr.dll and dimxpert.dll were also automatically registered if you installed the SOLIDWORKS software.

If you did not install the SOLIDWORKS software on the system where you want to use these APIs, you can manually register them.

SwDocumentMgr.dll and zlib.dll must either reside in the same folder or be accessible via the Windows search path.

To manually register SwDocumentMgr.dll:

1. Click Windows Start, type 'Run' and press Enter.
2. In the dialog box, type: regsvr32  "<disk>:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared\SwDocumentMgr.dll"
3. Click OK.
4. Click OK again.

NOTE: Install programs, such as InstallShield, can automatically register the DLL for you.

To manually unregister SwDocumentMgr.dll:

1. Click Windows Start, type 'Run' and press Enter.
2. In the dialog box, type: regsvr32 /u "<disk>:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared\SwDocumentMgr.dll"
3. Click OK.
4. Click OK again.

You can redistribute swDocumentMgr.dll and zlib.dll.

To manually register dimxpert.dll:

1. Click Windows Start, type 'Run' and press Enter.
2. In the dialog box, type: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\vX.X\regasm /codebase   "<disk>:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared\dimxpert.dll
3. Click OK.

Request for a License Key

The SOLIDWORKS Document Manager API requires a license key that is only available to SOLIDWORKS customers who are currently under subscription. Each user of SOLIDWORKS Document Manager API must have a license key.

Please refer to this article for the process to request a license key.